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The Great and Wandering Dark
= The Great and Wandering Dark = “Take one hundred men. Now take their dreams. Put them both in a pile and tell me which is bigger. That’s the one I’ll eat.” ---- History It’s unknown what fel forces sired the Malision Dragon that would one day become the Wandering Dark. Some say he was a primordial dragon that was struck by the very same shard of evil that created the abyss, and forever changed during their infinite plummet into the writhing darkness. Some contend that he’s the ineffable spawn of Rovagug and some ancient unnamed draconic matriarch. There are rumors that she was once a bright and shining mithral dragon captured by the most powerful qlippoths and twisted in their odious dens until they could contain her no longer. What is known is that the Great and Wandering Dark came to be what it is today through a harrowing and perverse journey of betrayal and darker things than the human mind can conceive of. The Wandering Dark began as many would be god-dragons do, the center of a cult of kobolds and half dragons. Millenia passed as these distant dragon-kin fed his appetites for atrocity and wealth, and he glutted on worship. As the eras turned he slowly located godlings, those whose parentage is touched by the divine, and consumed them in fell ritual. Then the star fell, and in the wake of such blighted devastation he made his bid for godhood. Soaring into the aether on wings of black taint the great dragon stalked the edges of Acvana’s sacrifice, absorbing just enough of her form and essence to complete his apotheosis. His aboleth conspirators would never discover that her discovery of their plot was something he’d planned for, and the death of a god would prove a sufficient power source to replace the death of a planet. Fearing the gods of Golarian, and with her sister planet Oustomia gone, the Wandering Dark fled into the depths of the abyss. His powers were fledgling, unsecure, and with the holy fury of the upper planes he thought it wise to hide. In the demon infested pits of the infinite depths he found those that would become his staunchest allies. Lamashtu helped him sire more of his kind, giving rise to the (fortunately few) Malision Dragons that are known of today. Demogorgon taught him of the fruits of paranoia, and the madness it takes to rule over the infinite. He served the Lords of the abyss as a lesser divine for eons, weaving conspiracies from nothing and clawing at power that didn’t exist before. He remained active in events on Golarian from his safe perch within the infinite madness of the abyss, moving pawns on behalf of his superiors and increasing his influence inch by inch. Then in 4606AR storms wracked Golarian for three weeks, and after they'd passed the clerics of Aroden found themselves cut of from their god. Like-wise the clerics of the Wandering Dark also found themselves bereft of their patron's profane blessings, leading his few devotees to believe the Dragon died in whatever struggle occurred to bring an end to Aroden. In all reality he'd found Oustomia. With his former peers and rivals convinced he'd died his cults immediately began recruiting from amongst the populace of his new target, the beast behind them wondering how these new peoples would destroy themselves with the promise of power. ---- Appearance The Wandering Dark is a lord of secrets, and therefore his exact form can’t be known. We can surmise from his hideous offspring the Malision Dragons that he is a titanic beast with blood red scales blotched with black, his wings a dark purple oozing a red viscous fluid, and his tail vast and whip-like, lined with small jagged spines. That is, of course, presuming he’s anything like his offspring. To his worshippers he appears as a towering dragonborn with Malision coloration, with eyes that burn with star-like fury. ---- Relationships As an elder evil the Wandering Dark opposes the upper planes with the expected debased fury of his twisted demonic peers. Within his peerage he only truly gets along with Lamashtu, whose propensity for experimentation and willingness to indulge his darker appetites he finds agreeable, Demogorgon, whose mad cunning and horrific power he envies and respects, and Dagon, the enigmatic master of the maddening depths and that which Man Cannot Know. He’s particularly offended by Serenrae and her portfolio of redemption. He views those fortunate (or perhaps unfortunate) souls that are lifted above the clutches of evil as blind traitors to true power, and her opposition of Rovagug was hardly pleasing to the Nihilistic dragon. Asmodeus and the archdukes of hell he tolerates as misguided peers and dupes, believing their illusion of civility to be a crutch holding them back from the dreaded insights of rampant desecration. ---- Heralds and Other Notable Servants Nol’aloth Kargasint and her brood: This Malision Matriarch is one of the most powerful of the Wandering Dark’s offspring, and likely his most powerful ‘mortal’ servitor. Rumors abound that she envies her father’s position, but the two work closely enough that this is doubtful. Zerandiel, The Hand of Justice: This Broken Soul Planetar keeps his former title to this day. Once a powerful servant of Iomadae this twisted creature fell into the Wandering Dark’s clutches during an effort to stop the dread Dragon from opening a rift to the material plane. Little did he or his companions know this was little more than a ruse to draw out the angel, and test the Wandering Dark’s new techniques for corruption. ---- "You may have read my notes on the Malision Dragons... if you think that informs you you're woefully incorrect. This beast may be altogether something different, even the first of his kind." '' ''-Zasper; Grand Archmage of the 9th Circle, Bearer of the Crystal Crown, Friend to Bahamut, Foe to Tiamat, Hero of a Hundred Kingdoms, Keeper of the 89th Secret of Talorn, Walker of Worlds, the Purple Archmage, and Champion of Halm. Category:Deities Category:Lore Character